A common aspect of many systems and services that are distributed on a global basis is the existence of an orthogonal naming structure for the systems and services within a wide area network. In general, there are two distinct kinds of orthogonal naming structures: fixed and extensible. Fixed names are controlled by an authority that can assure that each name is unique within the space controlled by that authority. In contrast, extensible names are generally not controlled by a central authority. Extensible names typically consist of one or more sub-names that may have at least one part that is a fixed orthogonal name. Each sub-name may have zero or more sub-parts that form an ontology that is only guaranteed to be bounded by the fixed orthogonal name. An example of an extensible name is any name assigned to a service by a Dynamic Name Server (DNS). The DNS assigned name may be used to locate the service within a particular network. However, if the service moves around or outside of the particular network, the DNS assigned name may no longer be unique to the service at its new location.